Tom Rhodes

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are Comedy Central's twin guffaw Brokaws, but Tom Rhodes was their anonymous antecedent. The easygoing funnyman with the Mister Ed mane signed the first-ever contract with the fledgling cable enterprise in 1994, back when Colbert was still an avowed liberal writing for Dana Carvey and Stewart was a no-name stoner landing bit parts like "rollerblader" in films like Mixed Nuts. While The Daily Show shot to Nielsen superstardom, bankrolling the channel and putting its stars on the laugh-track fast track, Rhodes took the road more traveled by midlevel comedians: a creatively bankrupt NBC sitcom (Mr. Rhodes) and a short-lived (but well-received) late-night talk show in the Netherlands (The Kevin Masters Show Starring Tom Rhodes). His international popularity resulted in a steady stream of gigs in countries on four continents, making this booking in the French Quarter  his second in the past two years  a fitting chapter in a giddy global travelogue. Standup NOLA's Wild Bill Dykes opens. Tickets $12 advance purchase, $15 at the door.  Noah Bonaparte Pais